At the beginning of the book it tells about some of the main characters. It tells about the mother Hudis Shilsky (Mameh) and the father Fishel Shilsky. It describes how they had an arranged marriage to avoid the Holocaust. Then when they started their lives in America Fishel was done with Mameh. Fishel was a Rabbi and not a good one he would rape his daughter’s and sexually abuse them he was a loyal husband. Mameh only had one capable side. But she was a loyal wife. Ruth is one of the most important characters. She is a black jew and a mother of twelve. She has been through two husbands, is financially broke, and refuses to remarry. Ruth had a hard time making time for all twelve of her kids. She also had trouble feeding them. They all had to fight for their meals. As a child Ruth was sexually abused and didn’t know what was really happening. Later in life Ruth and her family are in Delaware. She lived with her grandma and worked in a factory. She quit the factory and worked at a nail salon. Rocky (manager) liked Ruth and took her out and Ruth thought it was a date but Rocky took here out as a prostitute. So she got out of there and moved. …show more content…
He always asked questions about their skin colors but she would never give him a solid answer. He once told her about what his friends said and she told him he wasn’t aloud to hangout with them anymore. He also asks some of his siblings and they convince him that he is adopted, he stays up till 2 a.m. to talk to his mom about being adopted and she tells him it isn’t true. James goes through a time when he has to help his mother when she is emotionally unstable because of her second husband’s death. Has james got older he knew he wanted to go to college for music. He went a trip to Europe with a jazz band. He had bad grades and SAT’s scores but luckily he got accepted into Oberlin